| By: Romila BoodramAfter twelve fruitless years of trying to have a baby, 33-year-old Liloutie Ramlall had all but given up on her dream of becoming a mother.So when doctors told her that she was pregnant a year later, she and her husband, Nizam Khamis were stunned to learn that they were going to be parents at last- and that Ramlall much longed-for baby ( a boy) was due in a matter of months.A happy Ramlall spent the last few months shopping for her son and at times hoped that the baby would come sooner while her husband would visit often from Canada.Early on Tuesday, Liloutie Ramlall started to experience labour pains and her relatives rushed her to a private hospital in the city.It never entered their thoughts that when she walked into the medical institution, 33 weeks pregnant, they would not see her walk out back.The Greenfield Beehive, East Coast Demerara woman delivered a little boy but later bled to death in the Operating theatre.Her son was born in a critical condition and was rushed to another hospital with a better equipped Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU) but he too did not make it.A pregnant Liloutie a few days before she diedOn Wednesday last, a post mortem examination done on the body of the 33-year-old woman revealed that she died from Hypovolemic shock and rupture of the spleen due to a caesarean section.The baby died from neonatal respiratory distress, a condition which made it hard for the baby to breathe.What is unclear at this point is how the woman’s spleen got ruptured while undergoing surgery.Minister of Public Health, Dr. George Norton said that his ministry has already launched an investigation into the deaths of the mother and her baby.He noted that he will soon have a discussion with gynecologists and obstetricians to find out what could have possibly gone wrong during the surgery.Yesterday, Parbattie Ramlall, the dead woman’s sister told Kaieteur News that the doctor who did the procedure on her sibling explained that the baby was born from a ruptured placenta.“He (the doctor) said that when he cut Liloutie (a bikini incision), he found a pool of blood. He said that he didn’t know where it was coming from but it wasn’t coming from below (the lower abdomen).”She added that the medical practitioner further related that he managed to “get out” the baby and sutured her wound but the bleeding still did not stop.“He said that they gave her four pints of blood and then they cut from her chest right down to her upper abdomen to see where the bleeding was coming from,” Ramlall explained. She added that the doctor then told them that her sister was bleeding from her spleen.The sister further revealed that her sister’s spleen was removed and she later suffered a cardiac arrest.Liloutie Ramlall died at the private hospital around 18:45 hrs on Tuesday while her son succumbed at the Georgetown Public Hospital Corporation a little after 09:00 hrs the following day.Questioned yesterday, a medical source who is privy to the case said that the patient was indeed given medication to speed up labor.“She was doing well when she suddenly started to have severe back and abdominal pains. She started to scream from the severity of the pain. This is no way near normal.”This picture is to give readers an idea as to where the spleen is locatedA smiling patient became a screaming terrified woman. She was found to be draining liquor (water from the ‘water bag’) and subsequently to be bleeding heavily. The fetal heart was irregular and a placenta abruption was diagnosed (premature separation of the placenta). An urgent C/section was decided on.“At surgery, the placental abruption was confirmed and she was noted to be bleeding from her upper abdomen. The general surgeon was summoned. He found that there was a ruptured spleen accounting for the blood loss and bleeding in her retro-pertoneal space which would have explained her severe back pain.“Medical literature speaks of Placental abruption and ruptured spleen existing in two conditions. Trauma and Severe pre-eclampsia. Neither was obvious in this case.”“Also, it is impossible to damage the spleen during a C/section. The spleen is below the diaphragm on the left side in the upper abdomen.”Before Liloutie Ramlall died…“When she (Liloutie) found out that she was pregnant, it was a magical moment for all of us because she was trying for so long,” the sister said with a little smile on her face.She explained that Ramlall, who was the eldest of three children, had spent all 33 years of her lives with her siblings and parents.“In February when she found out that she was pregnant, she started making preparations to welcome the baby. She bought baby stuff and so and she went to the doctor (who did the surgery) every month to make sure everything was fine,” Ramlall revealed.She added that her sister even started to build a house at the back of their parents’ home so that when the baby arrived,Cheap NFL Jerseys China, he would have been comfortable.On the morning Liloutie took in, she was taken to the hospital after which the doctor inserted a pill in her to induce labour.“We were downstairs and we heard her screaming so we run up and we heard that she gone in to get the baby. We also heard that she was bleeding and her eyes started to roll up before they took her into the labour room,” the sister said.She added that a few hours after her sister went in to deliver her baby; the doctor met with her and explained that the baby was not doing well and he had to be transferred to the GPHC.“I went to the GPHC with the baby in the ambulance and I waited until they put him in the ward and then I left to go back to see my sister but when I reached, the midwife called me and the doctor was there and he explained what happened,” Ramlall recalled.According to the sibling, her sister was healthy throughout her pregnancy and suffered from no medical complications.“We want answers. We want to know what really happened to Liloutie.” |
